Acne Medications

J Eur Acad Dermatol Venereol. 2009 May 27; Beylot C, Chivot M, Faure M, Pawin H, Poli F, Revuz J, Auffret N, Moyse D, Dréno B, Abstract Background The three-grade acne classification (mild, moderate, severe) is widely used to define the licensed indications of acne treatments, and for therapeutic decision-making in clinical practice, but its reproducibility has never been assessed. Methods Ten photographs of facial acne were scored independently by eight experts using the three-grade acne classification. We conducted a descriptive analysis of the results, based on graphical representation of the scores for each photograph. Results Inter-observer agreement on acne severity based on the three-grade acne classification was very poor. Conclusion The classical three-grade acne classification is poorly reproducible. A new rating tool accompanied by a clinical description of each severity level would be extremely useful. Conflicts of interest GEA and Dominique Moyse received an unrestricted grant from Galderma International, La Défense, France, for this study.